


Heaven’s full and Hell won’t have me

by BlackVitriol



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gayngst, M/M, Sad angsty shit, fair game, past unresolved trauma, where the fuck is summer yo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22033219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackVitriol/pseuds/BlackVitriol
Summary: A mission gone wrong forces Clover to question his relationship with Qrow Branwen.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 180





	Heaven’s full and Hell won’t have me

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a short Fair Game prompt by Homokinetic

By now Clover had given up on roping the Grimm and was more focused on just outright stabbing their throats for a fast kill. Their once simple mission had taken a turn for the worse in a matter of minutes, as they hadn’t expected more Grimm to arrive. A swarm of Manticores had taken to try and invade the dust mines late at night, forcing him and Qrow, who had been, hours ago, just strolling around Mantle, to jump into action.

Surprisingly, Qrow hadn’t been too bothered about the impromt mission. They had spent two weeks merely taking care of petty burglars and thieves while the kids got a handle on Atlesian Grimm, so the huntsman had been itching for a chance to tear some Grimm apart.

In their first hour, Clover had seen some of Qrow’s more flashy side of fighting: graceful twirls and spins, how he used those long limber legs to wrap himself almost obscenely to Harbringer’s extended staff as he switched to scythe mode: Clover knew he was doing it for him, because every so often, those rusty red eyes would playfully lock into his, daring him to have fun with it as well and Clover gave in, slaying Grimm in a far less productive means and more as to occasionally steal a Manticore from Qrow and kill it, earning a raspy chuckle.

But their energy and aura was starting to slowly crumble, eaten away by the elements and combat. He’d been forced to use his Semblance more and more, as his physical energy waned and his ability to dodge and leap away began to slow from the cold and fatigue. Qrow’s Semblance also helped alongside his own, thankfully not negating each other as the others believed they would: they would either narrowly avoid claws and jaws, or the Grimm would be caught in awkward positions or miss entirely. But it wasn’t enough.

As he finished off a trio, he chanced a look at his scroll to see Qrow’s Aura was dangerously low, the bar and his icon flashing angrily.

“Qrow we gotta move!” He roared, racing to Qrow, who had just blasted the last of his weapon’s bullets at a particularly evasive beast. 

“Clove, they’re-“ began Qrow as he whirled around to face him when he raised a leg and struck Clover squarely in the chest. He landed a few feet away, confused at the kick before he saw a massive Manticore bear down on Qrow, jaws snapping and eating at the cold air where his head had been a few seconds ago. Qrow furiously spun with his weapon, the blade whistling in the wind, but the creature’s skin was far more reinforced and thicker to cut, allowing the Manticore to separate the two as Qrow rolled with a strike and used Harbringer as a landing platform, blade sinking in the ground inches from the mouth of a massive ravine.

Clover’s hand reached out to him before another six Manticores descended on him, burning eyes locked on him. He raised Kingfisher weakly, ready to block a fire blast before he heard a bone chilling scream. Frustration boiled through and he used his luck to feint, allowing him to lunge to the ravine and look down.

But there was nothing there. Snow and wind howled around and he chanced a look down the ravine in desperation, trembling as the cold began to sleep through his aura. Something caught the weak moonlight near the bottom, but he was forced to return his attention to the Manticores behind him, primal rage from within him as he unleashed the last of his Fire and Electric Dust unto the beasts, Kingfisher releasing waves of flames and arcs of lightning, heating the air around him.

When the last of them fell, dissipating into nothingness, he didn’t stop to soak in the victory, but rushed to the ravine’s edge and hooked his weapon securely to it. He began to lower himself down, pushing himself off and giving the weapon some slack.

Twenty minutes felt an eternity as he went lower and lower, and by now, his scroll was angrily beeping at him, reminding him he was only at a mere three percent of Aura left. Holding on to his weapon, he descended further down still, jumping off the side and sinking even further, his only hope being a weak glimmer of light below. As he got closer, his panic just began to escalate, for all that effort just led him to Harbringer, embedded in the rock and its user no where to be seen. He looked around in the dark, the weak light of his Scroll unable to pierce the void underneath. He held in the pain and shook silently until, defeated and shaking, holding on to Qrow’s weapon, began to pull himself out and, mind soaked in confusion, tumbled through the unforgiving Atlesian snow, screaming into the white.

* * *

After two hours of pointless searching, he hailed down an airship when he got better signal and supported himself with Qrow’s weapon, firmly grasping the red leather handle as if it were going to vanish like its owner.

He’d just go back for a minute, go to Arc, and then come back, because Qrow was gonna be pissed if he didn’t get his weapon back and find out Clover had been holding on it it. First time they met, Qrow made it clear he detested anyone who wasn’t him, Pietro or Ruby handling his weapon. The pilot of his ship attempted small talk, which Clover shut down quickly, merely staring directly across from him, where Qrow SHOULD be bragging about his far more effective weapon, the amount of Grimm he’d slain or been in the middle of going through some old story about a similar mission from his Beacon days.

“I’m coming back, just hold out, Branwen” he murmured.

* * *

He reached the conference room just as everyone piled in to relay today’s events. They all greeted him cheerfully.

“Oh you just missed it, Nora and Ren just-“ began Ruby ecstatically, before her eyes caught her uncle’s weapon in Clover’s hand. The joy seemed to dissipate with each step he took into the room and even Nora’s smile seemed to slip.

“Wait, what are you doing with that?” asked Ruby curiously. Yang perked up, moving from Blake’s side. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he ignored the girls, not even daring to look into their eyes, before he found Jaune.

“I need you to use your Semblance on me” he said, trying to calm his breathing.

“Wait what’s happening, where’s Qrow?” asked Yang, voice higher, looking at the door, as if he were going to stroll through any minute now.

“Arc, I gave you an order-“

“I said, where’s Qrow!?” snapped Yang.

“I DON’T KNOW!” cried Clover, whirling to face her. Her eyes burned red, eerily reminding Clover of the infamous Raven Branwen, who at this point, knew more about Qrow’s fate than he did.

“What do you mean you don’t know?!?” questioned Ruby, springing forward, eyes wide and shining.

“All I found was this and nothing else, I looked everywhere but I just need my Semblance to find him-“

“What happened?” interrupted Ironwood suddenly, entering the room with Winter.

“There were supposed to be only a malnourished heard of Manticores trying to attack the mines, but there were a lot more than that.....healthy ones....just kept coming and we couldn’t keep up with them. Qrow was fending off an Alpha when I believe he fell into a ravine with it and....”

“And what?” inquired Winter cautiously. Clover took notice of how her grip on her weapon seemed to grow slightly tighter.

“I looked everywhere, I swear I did-“ said Taiyang, but then Yang blinked and she wasn’t missing her front tooth and holding on to Ruby as her father tried to calm her down that horrible winter when Summer went missing. A phantom pain danced across her right arm, causing her left hand to vibrate. Blake found it and wordlessly gripped it tight and guided her to her seat where her panic only grow, festering.

She couldn’t handle a third loss when the second nearly broke her.

Ironwood broke the silence of the room after a few minutes by clearing his throat and gained everyone’s attention.

“We need to go back out there immediately. I want you all except for Ebi on the airship in ten minutes”

Clover blinked.

“Wait I should go-“

“No” said Ironwood simply. “The search will be long in this darkness, I want Arc at full charge. You’re staying behind”

Clover silently looked at his superior. For years, he’d been conditioned to obey Ironwood. His cool logic always managed to convince him that what he chose to do was right. But that last order was something he couldn’t do.

“I’m not fucking staying behind when we don’t know where he is!” He growled.

The bravado did nothing to Ironwood’s steel glare.

“You’re staying behind because you won’t be of any help in this state” said Ironwood clinically, in a manner so detached it reminded him of being denied a high stakes mission in his sophomore year at the academy. That memory still pissed him off.

“State!? Oh, you mean actually have some goddamn empathy? Must be hard for someone so fucking heartless as you!”

A warm hand found his shoulder. Clover turned to Marrow.

“We’re going to do everything to find him Cloves. Trust us like you’d trust Qrow” he said gently. He perked up a bit. 

“Not to mention, you think those two aren’t gonna tear apart the tundra for him?” He said, jabbing a thumb at Yang and Ruby, physically present but mentally distant, lost in thoughts of fresh cookies, two toned petals and white hoods. Clover felt his anger fall into shock.

“The first sign we find anything, we’ll let you know, you won’t be out of the loop” said Weiss, chancing a look at her sister and Ironwood, the latter who seemed to still be processing Clover’s remark.

He was so tired.

Wordlessly, he nodded, threw one last look of desperation at his boss, his vision swimming, before he set down the massive broadsword/scythe on the table and left.

* * *

He blinked and was suddenly at his apartment. As the leader of the Ace Ops, he’d been given a luxurious penthouse to occupy, one of the many perks that came with a job as demanding as his. He loved coming to his apartment because he was free from thinking of work. He never brought work home on the firm basis that he would go crazy if he worked too long.

But right now, he ached for anything else to do, even paperwork, because there was no warmth in loneliness as he entered and looked around, where over the weeks, Qrow had slowly made it from house to home. On a table nearby, a scattered pile of red playing cards. On the kitchen sink, two cups that once held milkshakes Qrow insisted on making in the midst of a cooking show binge watch. His music system automatically turning on as he closed the door and began to play a song from the alternative rock radio station Qrow loved to listen to.

He was embedded everywhere he could think of.

He took a hot shower to melt the cold of the tundra away, barely forcing down a memory of when Qrow’s quarters dealt with plumbing problems and he’d come over to use his shower. The raised eyebrow as Clover’s eyes raked over his body, almost inviting him to touch and feeling extremely hot when he realized Qrow’s hair smelled like mint because he’d used his shampoo-

He hurried up and finished showering.

He chanced a look at his Scroll and saw his Aura was stuck at five percent since arriving and showering, and tried not to look at Qrow’s grayed out icon that had an X over it with the error caption “Signal Lost”.

He changed quickly and then headed to the fridge, where he found the leftovers of “bandit stew” that Qrow made for them when his Semblance unknowingly knocked out the power and spoiled a majority of Clover’s groceries and forced him to make due with what he had. His nose burned from the spice and also the longing for Qrow’s silent glee at his approval of the simple, yet effective meal. Somehow the stew tasted saltier than he remembered.

He put on warmer clothes and opted for the black turtleneck Qrow left in his last visit, plugged his scroll in to charge and settled into bed, exhaustion making itself known from the aches and pains of his body. The worst of the pain was in his chest though, so he hugged a pillow, as to assuage the pain and simply waited. Soft music played in the background and he looked at the massive glass window wall overlooking Atlas. The first time Qrow had walked into his bedroom, he’d been shell shocked to find how good he had it and let out a low whistle. His eyes wandered from the window and to the door, where a memory sprung up of Qrow marveling at his room.

_“Nice view huh?” He’d bragged._

_Qrow huffed._

_“It’s sure nice, but I’ve seen way better” he drawled playfully. Clover rolled his eyes._

_“Better than this? You can see everything from here! The best parts too! Not just tundra and nothingness”_

_“I’ve just been higher up than most people” said Qrow mysteriously._

_“Does the helium in your massive head help you fly?” He asked lightly, earning a light punch._

He chanced a smile at the memory as a sole tear melted into the pillow under him, lost in thought that he barely noticed a black blur, from the far reaches of the city, gaining visibility. He thought of all the times he wanted to be vulnerable with Qrow and just break the tension, but feared he’d run away or outright laugh at him. Saying something versus not saying anything felt far worse and he mentally tried to edit what scant memories he had with Qrow, imagining how he’d roll his eyes at his confession, promising a softer life after Salem’s fall, or how the burn of his beard would feel on his skin when he would reciprocate what he felt for him.

He managed to dwell on Qrow a bit more before the blur manifested as a bird and reached him. The sloped angle of the window wall allowed the bird to gain some footing and, almost frantically, began to peck and pry at it. For a second he swore it was attempting communication but his inability to get a good grip on the glass kept it from finishing the “SOS” Clover was sure it was trying to make.

He looked at the bird confused, as it lost traction and had to dive down, out of sight and return. Two times, it kept looking at Clover almost pleadingly, before retuning.

On the third time, he climbed out of bed gruffly, headed to a panel on the wall and tapped a button, allowing a section of the window wallto open up, inviting the cold air in and the bird as well, who hadn’t expected its third try to be the charm and almost crashed into Clover as it dove in and briefly settled into his arms, shivering.

“Cold out there huh? No wonder you wanted to get inside” he murmured, closing the window wall up behind him. The bird, which he now recognized as a crow, cawed at him approvingly and rewarded his generosity with a beak kiss on his forearm. He winced as he took notice of his hands, partially streaked with the crow’s blood, which he hadn’t noticed.

“What’s your story?” He wondered aloud, as the bird fluttered to his bed, shaking as it settled.

“Ask me in the morning” said the crow blearily, making Clover leap backwards in total shock as suddenly, it wasn’t a crow on his bed, it was a Qrow.

Gashes and tears littered his pale body, messing up the new clothes he’d just gotten and a large bruise bloomed in his forehead, dark purple and painful to even look at. Rusty eyes fluttered shut as he sprawled in bed, breathing raggedly, no doubt from his long flight from the mines to Atlas.

But regardless of being battered and broken, it was his Branwen.

**Author's Note:**

> [Hook] Hoes Sad (x24)
> 
> This was so fun to write at 5am, sleep schedule who? REM cycle what? We don’t know her. HMU at bhadbhranwen.tumblr.com for more gay and RWBY stuff.


End file.
